The overall goal of the Pilot and Feasibility Study Program is to enrich the scientific base of the DERC at Joslin as well as to enhance research on types 1 and 2 diabetes and their complications more generally. This goal can be achieved through bringing in talented new investigators or by taking up promising new experimental strategies or methods. Therefore, the program has traditionally provided support to three types of researchers: a. beginning investigators in the diabetes field who have not yet received substantial NIH funding;tx seasoned investigators in the diabetes field who wish to strike out in a novel direction;and a investigators from other fields embarking on a diabetes-related project for the first time.